Charles I and the Establishment of Royal Absolutism

Charles I and the Establishment of Royal Absolutism

Royal absolutism is a state of government whereby the monarch rules

supreme, with virtually no legislative power placed in other

organisations such as Parliament. For the people of England in the

1630s, it was a very real threat. After the dissolving of Parliament

in 1629, Charles I embarked on his Personal Rule. Without analysing

whose fault the breakdown in relations was, it was probably the only

thing Charles could do in the circumstances. Certainly, no dialogue

with Parliament was possible. After 1629, the country became

particularly distrustful of the King. Charles' problem was he was an

inept ruler whose belief in such ideas as the Divine Right of Kings

and Royal Prerogative meant that he did not moderate his beliefs

publicly. The public clearly saw his Arminian "Catholic" sympathies,

for example. England needed stability: the Continent was a very real

threat at the time, and England needed a monarch to represent England

and its people's principles. Unfortunately, Charles was not the right

person. Royal absolutism was one of the most important aspects in

European developments. Charles started to display some of the

characteristics of European rulers. This was cause for concern for

many people. But was Royal Absolutionism actually Charles' objective?

Part of the trouble was that there was great uncertainty about when

Charles would next call Parliament. In fact, Charles probably wasn't

sure himself. The times leading up to the dissolving of Parliament

were so fraught that it was understandable that people were concerned

with whether the King would actually consider calling o...

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... trying to create Royal

absolutism. However, this was probably not the case as Charles' aims

were more about turning England into a powerful country by creating

uniformity than creating absolutism. This is not to say that the

Personal Rule would have not resulted in absolutism, but it was not

Charles' original intention. His new initiatives were undermined by

deep suspicion of him working without Parliament and also poor

communication, particularly to rural areas. He may have been trying to

change the Church of England into an Arminian High church but this was

probably not directly linked to the creation of Royal absolutism. In a

time when England was threatened by superior overseas powers, Charles

needed to make England more stable and powerful, and this is the

reason for many of his schemes, particularly financially.